Dear Shameless Readers and Subscribers,
Hi there! I’m Angela, Shameless’ Circulation Manager. Usually I am happily behind the scenes here tapping away at my (multiple) spreadsheets, keeping track of subscriptions, filling orders, and hand-addressing many, many envelopes. Today, though, I want to let you know why some of you who’ve placed recent orders haven’t received them yet. Earlier this week, Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Canada Post failed to reach a deal. As a … READ MORE

As access to recording and editing technologies proliferate, the medium is becoming democratized. But opportunities to access quality training are few and far between. FIXT POINT Arts & Media is piloting a new training program that will give young women and non-binary youth the knowledge and practical skills they need to produce high-quality, compelling audio stories, and teach them how to use the medium of audio storytelling to engage their communities in meaningful ways.
The two-week … READ MORE

Nathalie Younglai, Farah Merani and Gillian Müller are multi-talented media makers committed to changing the industry. Together, they are three-fourths of the producing team behind the queer Black superhero comedy Super Zee (The fourth, Jay Vaidya, was out making the next ground-breaking project at the time of our interview). In the first part of our conversation, we talked about the making of Super Zee and its all-POC crew. Here, they share insight about their careers, self-doubt and why you should ignore what people say about how to make it in showbiz. READ MORE

Super Zee is an action comedy about a queer Black superhero saving the world from microaggressions. The crew behind it is made up entirely of People of Colour. I had the privilege of talking about the show, the biz, and challenging what’s possible, with three of Super Zee’s four creators. (The fourth, writer-producer Jay Vaidya, was out working on the next ground-breaking project at the time of our interview.) READ MORE

I developed an eating disorder at 18 years old. This was a time in my life when I was grappling with my identity, having just graduated high school, parted ways with many close friends, and unsure of what my future held.
I attempted to assert control over my life by conforming to idealistic, and often unattainable, societal beauty norms marked by thinness. These efforts became the catalyst for my eating disorder and were heightened by predispositions … READ MORE

Today’s political climate is hardly encouraging. With daily news headlines detailing further and further encroachments on fundamental human rights, with the kindling of rhetoric and aggression against disenfranchised groups, it’s easy to feel defeated, angry, or hopeless. It might sound trite, or just overly optimistic, but exposing myself to a documentary series on powerful, revolutionary women had an incredibly lifting effect. I recommend it as a form of self-care, a 70-minute to two-hour respite, and a boost for your own political capacity. READ MORE

Early in the novel Motherhood (published this May by Knopf Canada), Sheila Heti’s narrator provides a summary of the Biblical story of Jacob wresting the angel. In this story, a creature appears to Jacob, proceeds to wrestle with him overnight, and, come morning, spares Jacob and renames him “Israel.” Jacob calls the wrestling place “Peniel,” and refers to it as the spot where he came face to face with God, and made it out alive. Heti’s novel ends with the story of Jacob and the angel as well, except now it is a reference to the book the narrator has just finished writing. The narrator—a woman close to 40 years of age, living in Toronto, a fairly successful writer—comes to see her book as the wrestling ring where she faced God and made it out alive. She names this place Motherhood. READ MORE

The idea of containing the whole history of the breakup in a short book—everything that has led us to a moment when women (at least some women, in certain parts of the world) are able to freely leave relationships, all in 120 pages—is daunting to say the least. The study of how relationships have evolved, and how the historically socially-condoned male-female romantic relationship developed and came to dominate in Western culture—is gargantuan in scope. Yet it is one that Kelli María Korducki has pulled off, in a format that could easily be read in one sitting. READ MORE

Racism in the medical setting isn’t only experienced by patients, as explored in our previous posts. No matter how much education, training, and experience a person can acquire, sometimes people will only see skin colour, a name, or hear an accent. This prejudice exists in many institutions in Western society, especially in medicine. Like patients, BIPOC (Black Indigenous, People of Colour) medical professionals and students can also face discrimination every day from patients, peers, and … READ MORE

In the Fall of 2017, we put out a call to teen girls and trans/NB youth who were interested in joining our inaugural Podcast Camp – to learn together how to make rad podcasts and then, well, make them!
Led by our podcast producer Julia De Laurentiis Johnson, ten campers met each week for a month. They made friends, made jokes and made killer podcasts. AND NOW! We are very proud and pleased to start sharing … READ MORE

Even with all the progress that has been made in civil rights and equality, prejudice and discrimination can still be found in every corner of the world. As I interact with people and see how people interact with my family on a daily basis, I wonder when our perceived ethnicities come into play in how we’re treated. When is bad customer service actually discrimination? Or, when is a denial of access to something because of … READ MORE

In the Fall of 2017, we put out a call to teen girls and trans/NB youth who were interested in joining our inaugural Podcast Camp – to learn together how to make rad podcasts and then, well, make them!
Led by our podcast producer Julia De Laurentiis Johnson, ten campers met each week for a month. They made friends, made jokes and made killer podcasts. AND NOW! We are very proud and pleased to start sharing … READ MORE

VS. Books is a new imprint from Arsenal Pulp Press that offers a mentorship and publishing opportunity for a young Indigenous writer, a Black writer, or a writer of colour – parameters that are necessary when entering what can sometimes be a hostile environment in the mainstream Canadian literary scene. I had the opportunity to talk with Vivek Shraya — the incredible writer, editor, artist, and teacher behind this imprint — about her work, why she designed this mentorship, and what she hopes it can accomplish. READ MORE

This post has been updated from the original version.
For most of us, stumbling upon a video of an adorable animal is something we enjoy. However, what if you decided it was your duty to show the world the animals we don’t see? For 41-year old Torontonian Jo-Anne McArthur, this is precisely the case.
The photojournalist, author and educator has been travelling the world for two decades to capture what she calls “the invisibles”; animals we may … READ MORE

In the Fall of 2017, we put out a call to teen girls and trans/NB youth who were interested in joining our inaugural Podcast Camp – to learn together how to make rad podcasts and then, well, make them!
Led by our podcast producer Julia De Laurentiis Johnson, ten campers met each week for a month. They made friends, made jokes and made killer podcasts. AND NOW! We are very proud and pleased to start sharing … READ MORE

Featuring documentaries from across the world, the Hot Docs festival in Toronto runs from April 26 to May 6, 2018. Check out part two of our reviews series featuring the films Mr. SOUL! and Harvest Moon. Hot Docs offers free same-day tickets for all screenings before 5:00 p.m. to students with valid photo I.D. at the venue box offices (subject to availability). READ MORE

Fun Home, the musical based on the graphic memoir by Dykes to Watch Out For cartoonist, Alison Bechdel, is on stage now in Toronto. The show features three actresses playing the role of Alison Bechdel – as a young girl (Small Alison), as a university student (Medium Alison), and as a forty-something woman (Alison). We spoke with Sara Farb, who plays Medium Alison. READ MORE